Vehicle location units (VLU) are installed in motor vehicles as a deterrent to theft. A VLU is structured and arranged to communicate with other devices in the vehicle—generally referred to as “peripheral devices”—that provide additional functionalities, e.g., vehicle immobilization upon detecting unauthorized movement of the vehicle, alarms, cell modems, Global Positioning System units, On-Board Diagnostic tools, and so forth. Currently, to communicate with a peripheral device the VLU needs a wired serial port, which requires a direct, i.e., a hard wired, connection between each peripheral device and the VLU. Alternatively, a wireless transceiver may be disposed in series with the wired serial port. Hard wiring, however, facilitates locating the VLU. Wireless transceivers, on the other hand, do not enable the VLU to communicate with multiple peripheral devices simultaneously. Moreover, the VLU thus configured necessitates power consumption that jeopardizes the life expectancy of its battery.